Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-05
A STRANGE STORY.
Tho French Soldier and fhe Western
xII;ous,re Mackay and Boulanger
"A Rumored Scheme
70 Control the Oon missar1ht of Fighting
Eurcpe-How the "hsee Deai Hap
pened to Collapse.

uyou newspaper fellows" said e well
,-,own wheat broker to SSH Francisco
Cbronicle man yesterday, "you newspa-
aar fellows ere making great fuss about
.bo husted wbea. deal and the losses that
viii accrue from trying 10 corner the
rorId,s wheat, but believe you've over
looked one queer thing about the whole
mater" 80,
81, 1881 YOU will remember g number
~ military officers were sent out TO this
oa1n+rv " the French republic to take
go IN the centenary Ct the battle OF
Yo-ffowE. Among their numter was
po:,.diar General Erneste Boulanger.
TO- the celebration IN the east was over
ha rrme out here. He was pleasant,
cheerful kind of chap, and made many
trends Of both sexes.
az Notwithstanding BoulaGger's free and
essy exterior 1t is matter Of history that
- early as 1881 MS plans were rife end
only awaited publicity. Thus it was that
after h!s accession 10 that portfolio IN the
French Cabinet, which for fifteen years
ass been deemed Of equal importance
with that Of Foreign Affairs. his plans for
the reorganization of the French army
were Immediately made known. Every
detail was nicely adjusted and al things
pr 0srad fer 9 sill Doidec stroke"
mBlt what has all this got 70 GO with
the wheat deelfn It Wss asked, with some
Impotence.
~. has mis- much, tia Boulanger even
theI-ia 1881, l meaE-was al aspirant
for power and that ne had an eye on the
future. Consequently he looked 20 the
yaIue CT his friends. sud second ct
these was another San Francisco gentle
man. none other than John ". MaCk8y.
When Mckay vent 10 Paris, the General
and he were on very good terms. Things
had gone very well with Boulanger.
"NoE as to what passed between the
m!I!ionSire cEd the military msn can
not, OF course, say with exact detail. But
have heard il more then whispered tbat
the millionaire was let mo the con-
fdence of the military man, aud
thst the plans ana aspirations
Of the soldier were known, il
not shared in, by the successful miner.
Now, then, let's put the case hypothet-
Ically. as the lawyers say. Here was 8
F:enChmon, IS ambitious as they make
them, and with the chief poiit Of ailbi
ton the settlement OF the old feud be
fweeu Germany and France. Being {
Frenchman, toe, he was il 81 probability
TO put il mildly Spectator, Here
tee, wss another man with millions 8
his command. a WEI, we viii say, nigh
be Drec,pitated, . war whose end or eX
telt Nc man could foraeee. Il would
however, be 4 great European war, en-
some one WGIld have 20 feed the arrleS
No only would the armies have to bt
tel but they would have 10 be fed a. Gnl
pr e. Now then, suppose th'
arrangements between the I've
~ so for as to ilClude 3 fixed schaG.
@.!e enc m2n - bring about this WI
all mat the c.har would have - do Wcu}C
be TO corner ali the whest ard he WcUiC
be master of the situation, and every
grain would be golden. To come DaCl
now 20 the f1ccs. The GJblel ministry
came in and BoulaEgeT was still Minisle,
If War Mr. MacKay, or tae Bank 81
Nevada, or DresbaCh and RoseAt>ld, o.
The wheat Clique, or Whatever you Iea,
like C style il, did begin buying up 81
the wheat be could lay hands on, until i
looked as though be were actually 81
tempting to corner the fO0dstuf
o. the world. Everything looked
lovely IL ance il had gone s
fl- tlat about Iast May mobilization
OF the troops was on the taps, aul
Germany was on pins and needles as L
how threete1i1g that msssing Of the sol
diars along her frontier miahtbe. In Sal
Francisco The wneat vas being bought u
right and left; the price was forced up L
figure thBt made conservative Een Soak
their heads, but still The purchase wen
on. Then came the collapse. The Frencl
peonie themselves grew frightened, Bou
js1ger was declared to be 8 dangerou
man, the Rouvier Cabinet was formed
ana B5uIaDger was left out IL the cold
The imminence CT war was averted, an
wheat, in peslsc. sympathy, mark you
began to 20 down. The first crash redll
came then, a1d though il was STAYED off
few weeks you have seen that the ineyits
bic did tske pIsce."